Beijing limits hospitals within Fifth Ring Road

The health and family planning commission of Beijing said on Thursday it will not allow new government-funded or public general hospitals to open for business inside the circle of the Fifth Ring Road, which encircles the more developed districts of the city.

Instead, the commission said it will encourage investors to open more hospitals in suburban new towns, which are usually outside the circle and where quality medical resources are scarce.

Medical resources, especially those of quality, are concentrated in the downtown area such as Chaoyang and Haidian districts, attracting patients from around the country and putting great pressure on the downtown area, according to Han Xiaofang, a member of the city's commission of development and reform.

There are 33 hospitals near the Fifth Ring Road to help draw people from downtown to seek medical services and even settle there, said the city's health and family planning commission.

The commission also said it will not approve applications from public hospitals to increase their number of beds, and that it will strictly control high-end medical services provided by public hospitals, as those hospitals should focus on providing basic healthcare services.